Recreation pool



F. B. HUNTER RECREATION POOL Nov. 6, 1934.

Filed May 31, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR. Frank 13. Hunte 5*,

ATTORNEYS L] W2 $35 54 J2 F. B. HUNTER RECREATION POOL Filed May 51,1930 I 'I'Illllfllll'lllll INVENTOR. Frank B. Hunter,

7 ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES AT N OFFICE RECREATIONPOOL Frank B. Hunter, Indianapolis, Ind. Application May 31, ,1930,Serial No. 458,133 25 Claims. (c1. 9-172) The present applicationrelates to a recreational installation including a pool adapted for useas a swimming and wading pool or as an ice skating rink, a sand beachsurrounding said pool, and a bath house, the only access to said poolbeing through said bath house. One of the primary objects of theinvention is to provide a pool which shall be capable of use throughoutthe year, the pool being so constructed'as not to be damaged by theformation of ice during the winter. A further object of the invention isto provide more efficient circulating means for the water than has beenprovided in previously constructed pools. A further object of theinvention is to provide means for preventing sand from being carriedfrom the beach into thepool. A further object of the invention is toreduce pollution of the pool. A further object of the invention is toprovide means for conserving the water used 20 in the pool. Stillfurther objects of the invention will appear as the descriptionproceeds.

I have illustrated one embodiment of myinvention in the accompanyingdrawings, but it is to be understood that changes maybe made in thespecific construction illustrated and described without violating thescope of the invention, so long as the structure falls within the termsof the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, Fig. l is a broken plan view of the installation as awhole; 1

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, the pool proper being shown incentral section; I

Fig. 3 is a section onan enlarged scale of a portion of the pool showingthe apparatus enclosed within the central island; j

Fig. 4 is a floor plan of the bath house;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing a detail; and

Fig. 6 is a plan of a sand trap.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that theinstallation comprises a bath house 10 guarding an opening 11 in a fence12 completely surrounding the pool and beach. Immediately within thefence 12 there is provided an annular sand beach 13separated by a secondfence 14 from a walk 15 surrounding the periphery of the pool proper.Lamp-posts 16 are preferably positioned about the fence 14 to provideillumination for the pool and beach. r

At spaced points about the fence 14 there are provided openings forpermitting passage between the beach 13 and the pool proper, suchopenings being guarded by sand traps 17. Each of the sand trapscomprises a fence provided with an entrance 18 and an exit 22 leadingthroughthe fence 14.- Between said entrance and said exit there areprovided bafiie walls 19 and 20 providing a tortuous passage throughsaid trap, and the free ends of said baffle walls have secured theretopipes 17' provided with spray openings therein. Water is constantlysupplied to said pipes whereby spray curtains are formed, through whichcurtains'a person must pass to reach the pool from the beach. As will beobvious, any sand adhering to a bather will be washed off by the sprayas the bather passes through the sand trap so that he will not carrysand from the beach into the pool. I have illustrated the pool 23 ascircular in form, and this is the preferred embodimentof my inventionfor reasons which will appear hereinafter. Of course, however, many ofthe advantages of my invention which life guardscan keep watch on thebathers in the pool.

As isclearly illustrated, the pool is deepest at its center portion 27,and the floor 28 of said pool rises rather suddenly at a point spacedsomewhat from the island and thereafter slopes gently upwardly andoutwardly so] that the portion 29 adjacent the periphery of the poolmakes an angle with the horizontal not greater than the angle of slip ofice on the material of which the floor is made. The angle 'of incidencedisclosed may be otherwise defined as a safety tread slope. Such a slopeis defined in various building codes and, in the illustrated embodiment,is approximately 12 degrees5 minutes. Otherwise expressed, this slope isa drop of 2 feet 2 inches in 10 feet.

As will be clear from the drawings, the pool of the present applicationis constructed entirely without side walls, the water in the pool, beingretained solely by the floor thereof. As a consequence of thisconstruction, the expansion of ice the floor. 32.0fsaid island ispreferably positioned slightly below the floor 28 of the pool, althoughthis latter arrangement is not of particular importance. Atequidistantly spaced points about the periphery of the island there areprovided outlet ports 33 in the floor 28 of the pool, said ports beingconnected by pipes 34 with T-couplings 35, and said couplings areconnected by pipes 36 to a common head 37. Adjacent the upper end of theisland, said island is formed with a scum gutter 38, the lip 39 of whichis positioned just below the normal water level 40 in said pool. Atspaced points about said scum gutter 38 there are provided outlet ports41 connected by pipes 42 to the respective T-couplings 35. 1

The head 37 is connected by a pipe 43 with the intake port of a pump 44of desired construction, said pump being preferably driven by a motor45. A pipe 46 connects the outlet port of said pump with a filter 47,said filter being connected by apipe 48 with a chlorinating device 49.Of course, it is tobe understood that the filter and 'chl'oriuator areillustrated only diagrammatical 1y herein; A pipe 50 leads from thechlorinator 49 to a distributing head 51 withwhich are connected'aplurality'of pipes 52 leading to the inlets 53 positioned atequidistantly spaced points about theouter edge of the pool, and openinginto said pool at points slightly below thenormal water levelin saidpool. A branch inlet 54 is connected to each of said pipes 52, the samebeing adapted to project a thin stream of water 55 into the pool abovethe surface thereof for decorative purposes. As will be obvious, sincethe lip 39 of the scum gutter 38 is located slightly below the normalwater level in the pool, wateris continuously overflowing said lip andflowing through the pipes 42 and 36 to the head. 37I Likewise, waterwill continuously flow through the outlet'ports 33 and pipes 34 and 36to thehead 37. The'water thus flowing tothehead 37. is continuouslydrawn therefrom by the pump 44, forced throughthe filter and thechlorinator', and so to the head 51 and through the pipes 52 totheinlets 53 and 54. A constant circulation of waterthrough the pool isthus maintained, the water being purified each time it passes throughthe mechanism within the island and before it is again projected intothe pooL' A very definite advantage is inherent in the particulararrangement of inlets and outlets disclosed herein, in combination withthe shapeof the floor of Ithepooh The inlets 53 and 54, are, as has beensaid,.equidistantly spaced about the periphery of the pool. The depthlofthe water increasesprogressively from the periphery of the pool to' 'theregionof theoutlets. It will be readily apparent that apoolof thisgeneral character can beso designed that'the cross-section of thesegment of water handled by each ofthe centrally located. outlets shallremain substantially constant from the periphery of the .pool to theoutlet. That is, the horizontal dimension of such a section adjacent theperiphery of the pool is quite large, whilethe, vertical dimensionthereof ,isvery small. Adjacent the outlet, the vertical dimension 1 ofsuch a section is comparatively .largepdue to the increased depth of thewater, while the horizontal dimension thereof is quite small, The resultof this arrangement, of course, is-a substantially constant rate offlowof water ,from the inlets to the outlets, with its resultant advantagein. the facility of maintaining a given chlorine content. I LwOfcourse,from theustandpoint'of obtaining this constant flow rate, a circularpool is the most efficient. The advantages of the described arrangement,however, can be attained, to a certain extent, in pools of otherconfiguration, so long as the deepest portion of the pool is adjacentthe center thereof, and the inlets are arranged about the perimeter ofthe pool and equiangularly spaced with respect to a central outlet.Where a plurality of outlets are used, the advantages may be obtained insome degree by spacing the inlets equiangularly about the perimeter ofthe pool with respect to the center thereof, and by spacing the outletsalso equiangularly-about the center of the pool.

It is desirable that the water level in the pool be maintained quiteclose to the peripheral edge of the floor thereof. It is practicallyessential to prevent the water from overflowing the curb 24. It isdesirable to prevent loss of water anywhere. To accomplish thesefunctions, I have provided means whereby, if the water level is raised,the excess water will be drawn off from the pool and retained in asuitable reservoir until such'time as it is needed to maintain thedesired level. On an average, an adult human displaces'about three andone-half cubic feet of water. A sudden ingress of a number of bathersinto the pool will, of course, raise the water level above the desiredposition. A plurality of outlets 56 are arranged about the periphery ofthe island 25 immediately above the normal water level indicated at 40.These outlets are utterly independent of the outlets 33 and 41, and areconnected by pipes 5''! to a common head 58 which discharges, through apipe 59, into a reservoir 60 Within the island 25. A discharge pipe 61leads from said reservoir 60 to the inlet port of a pump 62, and'a pipe63 leads from the outlet port of said pump to the filter 47, said pipebeing provided with a check valve 63. As will be obvious, waterdisplaced by bathers will flow through the outlet ports 56 and the pipes57 and 59 to the reservoir 60, thus lowering the water level again tothe desired level indicated at 40.

I have provided automatic means for bring the water level back up to itsnormal when bathers leave the pool. Of course, if a large number ofbathers leave the pool substantially simultaneously, the water levelwill drop below the lip 39. Even in the absence of compensatingmeans,the level would slowly be built up because of the reduction in therate of outflow due to-the elimination of flow through the pipes 42. Itis desirable, however, to build up this level more suddenly, and suchbuilding up is effected in the following manner.

At a point materially below the normal water level, the wall of theisland 25 is formed with a port 64 towhich is connected a pipe 65communicating with the bottom of a chamber 66 within the island, saidchamber being open to the atmosphere at its top. An arm 6'7 is pivotedto said chamber 66 and carries on its one end within said chamber afloat 68. The opposite end 69 of said armfi'l is disposed without saidchamber 66 and carries an electrical contact member 70 adapted tocooperate with a second contact member 71 carried upon a bracket 72. Asource of current is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 3 andcomprises a pair of wires '13 and '78. The line '73 is connected by awire '74 with the contact point '71 and a wire '75 connects the contactpoint 70 with one terminal of a motor '76, the other terminal of whichis directly connected by a wire 77 with the line '78. As will beobvious, the water level in the chamber 66 will be the same as the waterlevel in the pool. Solongasl the level in the chamber 66 is maintainedabove a predetermined point,the contacts 70 and 71 will be separated.When the level in the chamber 66 drops below a predetermined point, inresponse to .acorresponding drop in the water level in the pool, thecontact 70 will engage the contact '71 toestablish an energizing circuitfor the motor 76. The motor '76'is connected to drive the pump 62, andsaid pump'will draw water from the reservoir and force it through thepipe 63, past the check valve 63, into the filter 47, and thus throughthe pipe 48, the chlorinator 49, and the pipe 50 to the distributinghead 51. The pipes 52 and the inlets 53 and 54 are capable of handlingmore water than is normally thrown by the pump 44, so that the waterthrown by the pump 62 is simply added to the water forced through theoutlets by the pump 44, thus quickly raising the level in the pool toits normal. When the water level in the pool reaches its normal, thecontacts and v'71 are separated by the fioatarm 67, and the pump 62stops.

Pollution of public swimming pools has always been a major problem. Thatproblem has been solved, to a large extent, by the application ofpsychological principles to the bath house 10.

This house is divided into two sections by a partition 80,.one of thesections being devoted to women and the other to men. Since the twosections are identical, only one will be described.

On each side of the partition there is an entrance door 81 leading intoa vestibule 82 from which a door 83, misaligned with respect to the door81, 1eads into the locker room 84. The locker room 84 is provided withbanks of lockers 85 between which are arranged benches 86for theconvenience of the users of theinstallation. At one side of the lockerroom there is provided a check room 8'7 separated from the locker room84 by a counter 88. r l v The only exit from the locker room 84 isthrough a passage 89 leading to a door 90 in one wall 91 of a showercabinet defined by said wall 91, a wall 92, and battle Walls .93 and 94forming a tortuous path through said shower cabinet. The free edge ofthe battle wall 93 is suitably formed to provide a horizontally directedseries of spray curtains or blankets of sprayed water. Referring to Fig.5, it will be seenthat each of these curtains 95 is divided into threesections substantially along the dotted lines 103 and 104. Preferablythe portions of the sprayabove the dotted line 103 and below the dottedline 104 areformed of cold water, while the portion of the spray betweenthe dotted lines 103 and 104 is formedof warm water. As will beapparent, the Warm-portion of the spray strikes a bather in thehipregion.

It is the warm portion of the spray which is the most important featureof this arrangement. The portions of the spray abovethe line 103 andbelow the line 104 may be omitted if desired, or the first two spraycurtains encountered by a bather passing through the shower cabinet maybe entirely cold Water while the last curtain is either composed of thethree blankets illustrated in Fig. 5, or of a single blanket of warmWater arranged to strike the bather in the hip region.

It is a recognized scientific fact that a warm spray enveloping the hipregion of a person tends to urge the person to attend to the demands ofnature. As the bather leaves the sh owercabinet, he passes through adoor 96 into a room 9'7 in which is arranged a bank of toilets.

. From this room, the bather passes through a door 98 into a smallchamber communicating through a door 99 with a larger chamber 100 fromwhich he passes through a door 101 to a platform from which he may passthrough gates 102 to the beach 13. The wall between the chambers 100 andthe adjacent chamber is so arranged as to prevent a direct view from theoutsideinto the room 97.

' I claim the following:

l. A swimming and skating pond comprising a masonry fioor slopingsmoothly upwardly and outwardly from its center and into a plane abovethe water line at the limits of said pond.

2. A swimming and skating pond comprising a masonry floor slopingupwardly and outwardly from its center and into a plane above the waterline at the limits of said pond, the angle of inclinationof said flooradjacent the limits of said pond being not greater than a safety treadslope.

3. A swimming and skating pond having a central island therein andhaving its external boundaries formed by walls sloping outwardly and upwardly at an angle not greater than a safety tread slope.

4. A substantially circular swimming and skating pond centrally providedwith an upstanding island formed substantially as a right cylinder, thebottom walls of said pond sloping smoothly upwardly and outwardlysubstantially uniformly on all sides of said island and meeting theadjacent beach surface at the periphery of said pond in an angle notexceeding a safety tread slope.

5. A substantially circular swimming and skating pond centrally providedwith an upstanding island formed substantially as a right cylinder, thebottom walls of said pond sloping upwardly and outwardly substantiallyuniformly on all sides of said island. and nieeting the adjacent beachsurface at the periphery of said pond in an angle not exceeding a safetytread slope, and means for maintaining the water level in said pondbelow the level of the outer edge of said bottom wall.

6. In a swimming pool, an island substantially centrally located in saidpool, inlets adjacent the outer edge of said pool, outlets opening intosaid island, and mechanism within said island for drawing water throughsaid outlets and ejecting the same through said inlets.

'7. In a swimming pool, a plurality of inlets 1"! equiangularly spaced,with respect to the center of said pool about the outer edge of saidpool, and outlet means located centrally of said pool and adapted todraw water therefrom at substantially equal rates from points adjacentall of said. inlets.

8. In a swimming pool, a plurality of inlets equiangularly spaced, withrespect to the center of said pool, about the outer edge of said pool,an island located centrally of said pool, and a plurality of outletsequiangularly spaced, with respect to'the center of said pool, about theouter Walls of said island.

9. In a substantially circular swimming pool, a plurality of inletsequidistantly spaced about the peripheral portion of said pool, acylindrical island located centrally of said pool, and a plurality ofoutlets equidistantly spaced about a circle coaxial with said island andadjacent the wall thereof.

10. Ina substantially circular swimming pool deeper at its center thanat its edges, a plurality of inlets equidistantly spaced about theperipheral portion of said pool, a cylindrical island located centrallyof said pool, and a plurality of outlets equidistantly spaced about thewall of said island.

11. In asubstantially circular swimming pool, a plurality of outletsequidistantly spacediabout a circle concentric with said pool adjacentthe center of said pool, said pool containing water, thecross-sectionalarea of the segment of water tending to flow to eachoutletbeing'substantially constant from the periphery ofsaid pool tosaid outlet. 2 r

12. In a swimming pool, an inlet, an outlet disposed above the normalwater level of said pool, a reservoir, means connecting said outlet todeliver water to said reservoir, and means automatically operable upon adrop of the surface of the water in said pool below a predeterminedlevel for forcing water from said reservoir to and through said inlet tosaid pool.

13. In a swimming pool, an inlet, an outlet disposed above the normalwater level in said pool, a reservoir connected to receive the waterdrained through said outlet, means for forcing water from said reservoirto said inlet, and means'controlled by the water level in said pool forcontrolling the operation of said last named means.

14. In a swimming pool, an inlet, an outlet, means for circulating waterfrom said outlet to said inlet, a water reservoir, and means-dependentupon the, water level in said pool for pumping water from said reservoirto and through'said inlet to increase the flow through said inlet beyondthe capacity of said outlet.

15. In a swimming pool, an inlet, an outlet disposed below the waterlevel in said pool, means for forcing the water flowing through saidoutlet to and through said inlet into said pool, areservoir, an outletdisposed above the normal water level in said pool andconnected to saidreservoir, and means responsive to a drop of the water level in saidpool below its normal for forcing liquid from said reservoir to andthrough said inlet into saidpool.

- 16. In a swimming pool, a plurality of inlets, a plurality of outlets,pumping means, means connecting said outlets to deliver water to saidpumping means, means connecting said pumping means to deliver water tosaid'inlets, the capacity of said pumping means being substantiallyequal to the combined capacity of said outlets at normal head, areservoir, an outlet'independentof said first mentioned outlets, meansconnecting. said last-mentioned outlet to deliver Water to saidreservoir, and means automatically operable upon a drop of the waterlevel in said pool below its normal for delivering water from saidreservoir tosaid inlets, whereby the combined flow from said inletsexceeds the combined capacity of said first mentioned outlets.

17. In a swimming pool, a plurality of inlets, a plurality of outletsdisposed below the normal water level in said pool, pumping means, meansconnecting said outlets to deliver water to said pumping means, meansconnecting said pumping means to deliver water to said inlets,'thecapacity of said pumping means being equal to the combined capacity ofsaid outlets at normal head, a

reservoir, an outlet independent of said firstmentioned outlets anddisposed above the normal water level in said pool, means connectingsaid last-mentioned outlet to" deliver water to said reservoir and meansautomatically operable upon a drop of the water level in said pool belowits normal for delivering water from said reservoir to said inlets,whereby the combined flow from said inlets exceeds the combined capacityof said first-mentioned outlets.

18. In a swimming pool, a pluralityof inlets,

a plurality of outletsfdisp'osed below the normal water levelin-s'aid-pool, pumping means, means connectingsaid outlets to deliverwater to said pumping means, means connecting said pumping means todeliver water to said inlets, the capacity of said pumping means beingequal to the combined capacity of said outlets at normal head, areservoir, an outlet independent of said firstmentionedoutlets anddisposed'above the normal waterv level in said pool, means connectingsaid last-mentioned outlet to deliver water to said reservoir, means fordelivering water from said reservoir to said inlets, and means dependentupon the water levelin said pool for causing operation of said lastnamed means only when the water level in said poolis below normal.

19. Ina swimming pool, a plurality. of inlets, a plurality of outlets,means for forcing the water removed from said .pool through said outletsto and throughsaid inlets intosaid pool, a reservoir, means independentof said outlets for drawing water from said pool to said reservoir upona rise of the-surface of the water in said pool above a predeterminedlevel, and means including said inlets for delivering water from saidreservoir to said pool only upon a fall of the surface of the water insaid pool below a predetermined level.

20. In a swimming pool, a plurality of inlets, a plurality of outlets,means for forcing the water removed from said pool through said outletsto and through said inlets into said pool, a reservoir, meansindependent of said outlets for drawing Water from said poolto saidreservoir upon a. rise of thesurface of the water in said-pool above apredetermined level, and means including said inlets but independent ofsaid first named means for delivering water from said reservoir to saidpool upon a fall of the surface of the water in said pool below apredetermined level.

21. In a swimming pool, an inlet, an outlet, means for drawing waterthrough said outlet and for forcing the same to and through said inlet,an outlet independent of said first mentioned outlet, a reservoirconnected to receive water flowing through said last mentioned outlet,and means independent of said first-named means for forcing water fromsaid reservoir to and through said inlet.

22. In a swimming pool having its greatest depth substantially at itscenter, an upstanding island located centrally in said pool, pumpingmechanism in said island, outlets opening into said pool substantiallyat the base of said island and supplying said pumping mechanism, anoutlet opening through the wall of said island at a point above thenormal water level in said pool, a reservoir within said island, meansconnecting said last mentioned outlet to deliver water to saidreservoir, inlets located adjacent the outer boundary of said pool andsupplied by said pumping mechanism, and means in said island for forcingwater from said reservoir to and through said inlets.

23. In a swimming pool having its greatest depth substantially at itscenter, an upstanding island located centrally of said pool, pumpingmechanism in said island, outlets opening into said pool substantiallyat the base of said island and supplyingsaid pumping mechanism withwater, an outlet opening through the wall of said island ata point abovethe normal water level in said pool, a reservoir within said island,means connecting said last-mentioned outlet to deliver water to saidreservoir, inlets located adjacent the outer periphery of said pool andsupplied by said pumping mechanism, and means in said island andcontrolled by the water level in said pool for forcing water from saidreservoir to and through said inlets.

24. In a swimming pool having its greatest depth substantially at itscenter, an upstanding island located centrally of said pool, an outletopening through the wall of said island above the normal water level insaid pool, a reservoir within said island connected to receive the waterdrained through said outlet, a pump Within said island connected todeliver water from said reserposed blankets of sprayed water extendingacross said passage, the intermediate one of said blankets being formedof warm water.

FRANK B. HUNTER.

